Soap drier



C. W. AIKEN Jan. 5 1926.

SOAP DRIER Filed July 21 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 E TOR zb 'em A TRNEY SOAPDRIER Filed y 21 1923 4 Sheets Sheet 2 .f" 51 F1" g". 5- 3 i a) 5,5 36;J4 3g 51 B u ATTORNEY C. W. AIKEN SOAP DRIER Jan. 5 1926.

I 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 21 1923 4- 0-:1 I v r- 9 c a a INVEN OR G.W. AIKEN Jan. 5 i926.

SOAP DRIER Filed July 21 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 4,

INVENTOR fiark; WA ikziz/ my invention.

Patented 1...."5, 1926.

' ounce-STATES PATENT GHABLESW. AIKEN, O1! BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

soar DRIER.

Application flied luiy 21, 1928. Serial No. 852,925.

invented a new and useful Soap Drier, of

which the following is aspecification. v

My invention relates to apparatus for .drying material such as soap 0ips.

The main object is to provide reliable apparatus which can be made at areasonable cost and which can be readily assembled, inspected andrepaired and which will operate economically. Another objectis toprovide an apparatus of this character having a maximum capacity.Another object is to effectively and uniformly dry soap chips at aminimum expense.

y In the drawings I have illustrated one form of apparatus forcontinuously mixin drying and discharging soap chips accor' ing to Theapparatus embodies a housing or casing containing conveyers'for thechips so arranged and so constructed as to turn over and mix up thechips intermittently as they are conveyed. The air for drying the chi sis forced or drawn through the'casing bac and forth over the conveyorsand chips and heated while in the casing.

Circulating means ijs also preferably provided for agitating the anadjacent theheater and some of theconveyers.

" Fig. 1 is a SidQ-L VlQW illustrating appa ratus embodying myinvention,part of it being broken away and fore-shortened forconvenience in illustration.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional View of the At-one end of the casing isprovided a hopper 11 or other suitable means for admlttmg the soap chipsto the casing. The

chips are conveyed to this hopper in any W suitable manner, .forinstance by means of a belt or chain conveyor 12.

Inside the casing are arranged a plurality of conveyors, in thisinstance three, namely 13, 14 and 15, in vertical series. At the bot- Atom of the casmg is arranged a receiving trough 16 with a dischargemember 17-for conveying. the dried chips outside of the casing. 1

The air for drying the chips is admitted at one side of the casingthrough one or more openin s such as 18-18 preferably arranged 7 alongit ie lower ed es. .The air-is drawn out at the top throng outlets suchas 19-19 being aided for instance by means of a suc- 5 tion fan 20 whichmay handle the air from a plurality of outlets. I

Within the casing along, one side and preferably just above: the airinlets 1'8-18 are arranged heating tubes preferably in two 39 seriessuch as 21 and 22. Thesetubes may be heated internally inany suitablemanner such as by steam. Between the.,.tubes are spaces for thecirculation of air.

one or more circulatin fans such as 23 arranged in a chamber a ove theheater tubes. and adjacent the conveyors. Preferably one of these fansis provided to correspond with each of the outlets 19.

Each of the conveyors is made up of more or less conventional type ofchains 25-'--25 running on s rockets 26-26 on shaft 27 I at one end anon sprockets 28 on shaft 29 I' also prefer to provide within the casingmovement 'of air through the ch'sing.

conveyor pan.

required.

at the other end. One of the sprocket shafts 95 is-preferably adjustableback and forth, for instance by means of the take-up 30 (shown in Fig. 1so as to permitthe conveyor to be fans and illustrating by arrows thegeneral Fig. 3vis an enlar ed vertical sectional view showing a'detai ofthe conyeyer.

plFig. 4 is an edge view of a part of the ti htened upnso as to operateeatis actorily. conveyer., T e soap. c 'ps are carried on perforated 9ans 31 which overlap each, other as shown in Fi 4. Each pan preferablyhas an upturne flange 32 at one ed 0 and a downturned lien .33 at the ered which reenforce t e pans materially. ach pan also referably has anend flange 34 which reen cross it and assists in holdin the chips on thepan. Each pan has a pivot shaft 35' at its opposite ends suitablyconnected to the conve or chains. These pivot shafts are arrange nearerone edge than the other and the pan is provided with rollers 36 at Fig.5 is a perspective view of one end of a Fi 6 and 7 are verticallongitudinal sections. views showing the opposite ends of the apparatus.F'g. 8 is a perspective view of one of the pan tripping elements.

The casing 10 may be made in any suitable manner referabl of a series ofsections arrange of sufiiclent length to rovide the necessary capacityfor the particu ar case 'ure 2, for instance a partition is the edgemost remote from the pivot shaft.

Each roller may conveniently be carried by a bracket 37 secured to theunderside of the pan and is adapted to travel on the track 38 which mayconveniently be formed of angle iron so that the pans are supported inthe position shown in Fig. 6 as they pass along the upper stretch ofthe" conveyor. N ear -what may be termed the outer end of the casing,the ends 39 of the guide tracks 38are inclined downwardly so that aseach pan passes towards the right as viewed in a roller which stands inthe path of move-,

mnt of the pans so as to tilt each pan as it comes along into theinclined position of the pan immediately above the path of the shaft 29'(Fig. 7) and thus be sure to jar the pan and dump .all the chips. Assoon as the edge of the pan clears the tailpiece 40 of the abutmentmember the pan will tilt 'back again so that its roller will engage theupwardly curved ends &1 of the lower guide tracks of the upper conveyor.The abutment member {l040' may be adjustable back and forth as indicatedin Fig. 8 or otherwise so as to insure that the pans will be dumped atthe proper time. The opposite end of the lower track is inclined.

downwardly at 42 similarly to the incline 39 so that the lower stretchof the upper conveyor will dump the chips onto the upper stretch of thesecond conveyor as illustrated in Fig. 6. The corresponding end of theupper guide track 38 is provided with a curved portion 43 to receive therollers of the pans and direct them into their proper paths. Theconveyor 14 is constructed and operated in the same manner as theconveyor 13 and delivers its freight to the lower conveyor 15 whichhandles it in the same manner and deposits it into the receiving anddischargin trough 16. In this way it will be noted t at with threeconveyors the material is turned over and mixed up five times after itis deposited on the up er conveyor and before it is dischar T is insuresa complete mixin of the c ips so that all portions are equal y uniformldried.

The casin is provided with partitions and deflecting p ates so as incon1uncti0n with the conveyer pans to cause a maximum circulation of airalon more or less definite channels as indicate by the arrows inFigrovided beneath the Y heating tubes w ich directs the air beneaththese tubes and to the opposite side of the casing beneath the lowerconveyer pans. I also provide a defleeting plate 46 to, so far aspractical, prevent air from this portion of the conduit passing directlyto the heater tubes. The air which passes beneath the lower ortion ofthe lower conveyer is allow to travel backward between the upper andlower stretches of the lower conveyer being deflected by the plate 47,thus cooling the material and heating the air. The air thus passesthrough the lower conveyer and around heating tubes since it isprevented from passing directly backward between the conveyers by theinterposed baflle plate 48. The air from the heater tubes is thendirected back through the space above the upper stretch of the lowerconveyer and the upper stretch of the second conveyer by means of abafile plate or partition 49. The air then passes upward around the edgeof the conveyer 14 and is allowed to pass backward over the upperstretch of the second conveyerand through and over the up er conveyer tothe circulating fan 23 which keeps the air moving and forces some of itback and downward through the heater tubes 21 and thence through thetubes 22 to mingle in with the air which is coming to these tubes 22directly from the lower conveyer conduit. It should be noted that thecross sectional area of the conduit increases as the air becomes heatedand laden with the evaporated moisture. I prefer to provide verticaltransverse artitions or bafiles as shown in Figs. 6 and so as to confinethe definite circulation of air to those portions of the conveyers whichare loaded. Such transverse partitions are shown at 50 and 51 beneaththe lower conveyer, 52, 53 and 54 within the respective conveyers at theleft, at 55 and 56 between the conveyers at the left, 57 and 58 betweenthe conveyers at the right and at 59 above the top conveyer at the left.It should be understood of course that these deflecting bafiles orpartitions are not intended to confine all of the air but merely todirect most of the air as aboveindicated so as to utilize the maximumheatin and dryingeflect.

In t e particular arrangement shown the air passing to the left asviewed in Figure 2 between the upper and lower stretches of the lowerconveyer has approximately one half the cross sectional conduit space asthe air passing to the right between the upper stretch of the. lowerconveyer and the upper stretch of the second conveyer and approximatelyone third of the cross sectional area of the upper conduit portionbetween the upper stretch of the second conveyer and the top of thecasin It should be understood, however, that do not consider theseroportions essential to the attainment of many of the advantages of myinvention.

t should also be understood that I do not consider the exactconstruction and circu- III above the heatin lation herein shown to beessential except so far as I have limited certainv claims thereto.

I claim:

1. In a soap drier, a casing having a plurality of movableconveyersarranged in vertical series with air inlets along the lower edge and airoutlets along the upper edge,

' conveyer and ,throu h the heater, circulating means within t e casingadjacent the upper part of the conveyer and means for drawing airthrough the casing.

3. In a soap drier, a casing, three, movable conveyers arranged thereinin vertical series with circulating channels through and between theconveyers, a heater arranged alongside the lower conve er, means fordirecting air through the ower conveyer and through the heater and backthrough the space between the lower conveyer and the conveyerimmediately above the same and through said latter conveyer, anddeflecting means for causing the air to circulate back across the upperpart of said latter conveyor and through and above the upper conveyer.

4. In a soap drier, a casing having air in lets along "the lower edgeand air' outlets along the. upper ed e, heating means arranged along onesi e near the bottom, air circulating means arran ed above the heatingmeans, a plurality o movable conveyers arranged in vertical series, andseparate means for withdrawing moist air from the casing.

5. u a soap drier, a casing having-inlet means for the soap chips at theto and discharge means at the bottom, movab e conveyers arranged in thecasing between the inlet and the dischar e means, a heater arrangedalong one si e of the casing with baflle plates above one-side of andbelow the heater, means for admitting air beneath the heater anddeflecting it through the lower part of the conveyer and through oneside of the heater, circulating means within the casing above the heaterand adjacent the upper part of the conveyer and means for drawing airthrough the casing. a

:6. In a soap drier, a casin three movable conveyers arranged therein invertical series with circulating channels through and between theconveyers, a heater arranged alongside the lower conveyer and the-spacebetween the lower conveyer and the one above it, means for directing airthrough the lower conveyer and through the heater and back through thespace between the lower conveyer and the conveyer immediately above thesame and through said latter conveyer and means for deflecting the airback across the upper part of said latter conveyer and through and abovethe upper conveyer, a fan for stirring the air witnln the casing andmeans for withdrawing the air from the casing.

7. A soap drier comprising a casing having air inlets and outlets, aheater arranged in two parts, conveyor mechanism arranged in three'parts, partitions arranged in said casing to permit air to circulatedirectly between one-part of the heater and two parts. of the conveyermechanism, a fan arranged to directly circulate air from the otherconveyer part to the other heater part, and means for withdrawing airfrom the

